Why is the Metaverse so important?
The significance of the Metaverse for human communication was discussed at the beginning of this chapter. More detail on this is provided next, together with how the Metaverse is specifically beneficial for businesses and then economies.
For human beings
The Metaverse is capable of simultaneously bringing together many human beings to interact in a 3D virtualized realistic or imaginative space with speed, ease, and precision. What is the significance of this? Why is it so important?
The increase in communication that the Metaverse brings is its biggest benefit. The reason why it is such a big benefit is because humans are social creatures, and the continued existence of societies relies on the efficient communication and interaction of the human beings who live in them.
From an April 2022 survey of US developers, 55% of them thought that it was likely that in 5 years, the Metaverse will replace real-life interactions. This sentiment provides credence that the Metaverse is a desired technology for social interaction:
Figure 1.10 – Results from an April 2022 survey of 300 US-based developers (source: Data from Agora)
The Metaverse brings family and friends together, makes new friendships very possible, and allows for connections with people who share the same interests. The argument might be made that Zoom video calls and other companies that offer video calls can do the same thing. After all, many people can get on a video call to meet, and a video call is an improvement over having a phone call. With a phone call that is done outside of a typical business setting, only a limited number of people can get on a call together, and they cannot see each other’s expressions and physical presence, so it is hard to feel close to anyone when they are on a phone call.
However, a video call is only a slight improvement over a phone call. Moving around is hard to maneuver—a person could take a walk around with their laptop or smartphone while on their video call, but it is really cumbersome, and there are a limited number of things that can be done in a video call besides talking and pulling up documents.
With the Metaverse, a person can enter a 3D virtual location using an avatar that very soon will be extremely photorealistic, looking like that person, and will also be able to move in a seemingly natural human way. Or, if a person wants their avatar to look like anything else than them, they could appear as any kind of animal or mystical creature—there is no limit except a person’s imagination here.
As their avatar in the Metaverse, a person can move around—again, in very realistic environments or immensely imaginative ones—and jump instantly from one environment to another, meeting people they’ve set up ahead of time to meet, or meeting people they don’t know that share the same interests they do. Setting privacy options is going to be an extremely important part of setting up Metaverse preferences, including restricting who can see you’re online and blocking people, but on the positive side, preferences could be used to hone interests so that like-minded people you don’t know can serendipitously come in contact with you. Family and friend circles would also be a very useful feature to set up.
In terms of environments in the Metaverse, they could resemble what has historically been seen in Second Life, an online virtual world that peaked at about 1 million users in 2013, but tremendously better. The Metaverse, in 3D with heightened resolution and very close to zero lag, is nirvana for those who have been in previous 2D virtual worlds. The richness in color and extremely realistic objects and forms, if that is what is preferred, will lure countless other people in, just as the internet did several years ago. So, people could meet in a virtual version of New York’s Central Park, on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, in a house that was digitally created and furnished by an environment’s host, or on the northern plains of Mars (modeled on existing photos). Also, journeying into the fantastical will be very popular—whether it is on a planet with two moons in the presence of giant docile bunnies, walking down the yellow brick road to the land of Oz, or traveling back in history to be in Ancient Greece, in Paris taking part in the French Revolution, or meeting with Ernest Hemingway in the 1920s, and so on.
With the alluring environments comes what can be accomplished there. What kinds of activities and actions are possible in the Metaverse? In Part 3, Consumer and Enterprise Use Cases, I relay what many of those could be in detail—gaming, socializing, sports, retail, work, and more. Imagine being able to play a really good game of baseball, followed up by buying clothes after virtually trying them on given your actual physical dimensions, then meeting up with a friend to talk and share realistic virtual wine with them—and that’s on a day off. So much work can take place in the 3D space of the Metaverse. Businesses will also benefit greatly, both in terms of Metaverse marketplaces and other modes of retail and the ability to have large virtual workspaces and other virtual work capabilities.
Business, which is the focus of this book, will have a large foothold in the Metaverse. I continue my introduction on what the Metaverse can do for business next, with more detail using illustrative use cases to be found in Part 3.
For businesses
The Metaverse brings an immense improvement for commerce that could be likened to what the advent of the internet did for it. It is the next evolutionary step following the internet.
The Metaverse has the potential to provide many benefits for businesses, including the following:
- New revenue streams: The Metaverse could create new opportunities for businesses to generate revenue through the sale of virtual goods and services, such as virtual real estate and advertising.
- Increased customer engagement: It could provide businesses with new ways to interact with and engage their customers, such as through virtual storefronts and interactive experiences.
- Improved collaboration and productivity: It could enable businesses to connect and collaborate with other companies and individuals in new ways, such as through virtual workspaces and remote communication tools.
- Enhanced customer insights: It could provide businesses with new ways to gather data about their customers, such as through the analysis of user behavior in virtual environments.
- Expanding reach: It could help businesses expand their reach beyond the physical constraints of their geographic location.
- Cost savings: It could also help businesses save money on physical expenses such as real estate, transportation, and employee benefits.
According to a survey done in 2022, over 50% of the people surveyed can see themselves as partly working in the Metaverse. It is no surprise that these people were from Gen Z, which is defined as those who were born between the late 1990s and early 2010s. This gives an indication of how closely connected the Metaverse is to the notion of business and how a new generation foresees its importance in that area.
For economies
The Metaverse has the potential to be beneficial for countries’ economies in several ways. The development and growth of the Metaverse can create new opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs within a country, leading to increased economic activity and job creation.
The Metaverse can also attract foreign investment and talent to a country, as companies and individuals look to participate in and benefit from the Metaverse’s market growth, which is forecasted by the year 2030 to be a total of $10 trillion given average expansion, according to Grand View Research.
Furthermore, the Metaverse can open up new export opportunities for countries, as businesses and entrepreneurs within a country develop and sell virtual goods and services to users in other countries.
Additionally, the Metaverse can be a platform for new forms of entertainment and leisure, which can also drive economic growth.
Lastly, the Metaverse can also be a platform for innovation, and countries that foster the development of the Metaverse may be able to leverage this innovation to gain a competitive advantage in other areas of the economy.
